Microsoft CRM was first released in 2003. Throughout the years, the platform has seen a significant number of enhancements to its rich offerings, as well as numerous modernization efforts. The platform saw a change in focus from system of records (relationships) to system of engagements (mobility) to now system of intelligence (machine learning and Cortana Intelligence). More than a decade later, Microsoft Dynamics 365 was announced bringing with it the most significant set of changes to the Dynamics suite of products.
A few notable changes introduced in Dynamics 365 worth discussing in this appendix are: rebranding, new capabilities, and licensing changes.
For the first time since its introduction under the Dynamics umbrella more than a decade ago, the platform has a completely redesigned new logo and a rebrand to Dynamics 365. The change marked a departure from its pure CRM roots to the new modularized structure that also bundled the Dynamics ERP products into one offering.
Dynamics 365 was marketed as a set of modular components that can be purchased individually or as part of a plan.
At its new launch, the product offered sales, customer service, field service, project automation, marketing, and operations (previously known as Dynamics AX) modules as part of its enterprise edition. Module's business capabilities were discussed in Appendix A, Architectural Views. Additionally, a small to medium business (SMB) edition was introduced, which offers a similar bundle with less modules, limited capabilities, and a finance module instead of the operations one (previously known as Dynamics NAV).
In addition to the Dynamics module mentioned earlier, Microsoft also offers PowerApps and Flow as add-ons to the platform. PowerApps provides easy-to-build mobile extensions to the platform that integrate straight with Dynamics 365 or through the Common Data Services (CDS) using Flow (we covered integration recipes in Chapter 9, Dynamics 365 Extensions).
Looking at...
From a licensing perspective, Dynamics 365 saw a departure from the familiar essential, basic, professional, and enterprises licenses to a team member, application-based, or plan-based licensing model.
Note
Device licensing is also available for scenarios where multiple users access Dynamics 365 through a shared device. Volume discounts can also be applied to organizations that purchase a large number of licenses.
Team member licenses are equivalent to essential licenses in previous Dynamics CRM versions. Team member licenses only offer read-write to account, contact, custom entities, and a few other supporting capabilities. However, most of the remaining out-of-the-box entities can only be accessed in read-only mode.
The following extract from the licensing guide highlights the different access types based on the different license types:
Whereas this screenshot highlights the different types of usages based on different licenses:
The application-specific licenses grant access to one...
In addition to the core modules described in Appendix A, Architectural Views, Dynamics 365 offers a range of add-ons. The following Dynamics 365 Administration Center screenshot demonstrates a sample solution management page:
Some can be installed from the Dynamics 365 Administration Center by navigating to INSTANCES | <Your Instance's Solutions>, while others are available in the Dynamics marketplace, AppSource (https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/). Microsoft solutions are usually available through the administration center, whereas third-party solutions are hosted on AppSource. The following screenshot shows a sample selection of add-ons available on AppSource:
There are hundreds of additional add-ons available for the platform. Some are free, while others require a license. The most notable ones are:
- Data Export Services
- Microsoft Social Engagement
- Organization Insight
- Portals
- Voice of the Customer
- Gamification
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a mature product that has a proven track record in the market world-wide. It is among the leaders in its magic quadrant. Due to its completeness, its rich set of comprehensive features, and continuous support from the Microsoft product team (with strong endorsement from Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella and direction from Microsoft Executive Vice President Scott Guthrie), the platform receives a lot of attention and is a breeze to work with.
Every year, as part of my MVP privileges, I get to meet the Dynamics 365 product team at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. With no exception, every team member is energetic and enthusiastic about the product; they are eager to improve on it and to listen to any issues the MVPs and the community have.
Throughout this book, we have covered a wide scope of topics from no-code configuration, to hefty code customization. We also touched on the security capabilities of the platform, DevOps, and some of the more recent changes...
